ASU football coach Todd Graham's roller coaster ride on Signing Day

It is still dark out, well before students are getting ready for their first classes at Arizona State, and Todd Graham, looking dapper in a sports jacket and slacks, is ready to roll on the third floor at Sun Devil Stadium.

The most beautiful sound he will hear this day is the humming of a fax machine that will signal a national letter of intent rolling in.

It's been a whirlwind last month for the new ASU football coach who, along with his assistants, has crisscrossed the Valley, making it a recruiting priority, trying to build relationships with coaches and kids who didn't know anything about him before he left Pittsburgh in mid-December.

Everything is in place.

Office secretary Lora Borup, her desk adorned with maroon- and gold-colored flowers, has the school fight song ready to play every time a letter of intent rolls out of the fax from a narrow hallway.

Offensive coordinator Mike Norvell is pacing the floor.

At 5:30 a.m., the first fax comes in. It's a signed letter from Lakeland Senior High offensive lineman Evan Goodman out of Florida. Graham wastes no time getting Goodman on the phone, pumping him up.

A little after 6, Graham's phone is ringing. It's top junior college running back Marion Grice of Houston to inform him that his fax will be coming in shortly.

It's a big start to the biggest day so far in the Graham era at ASU.

It's like game day with emotions wide ranging.

Graham is non-stop movement. He goes from one room, where there is a big screen with a spreadsheet of top 2013 prospects, to another room, where a couple of coaches are watching ASU's game last season against Arizona.

Martin is one of nine junior-college players who will sign this day, and one of four linebackers, a big need.

"That's a linebacker, right there," Graham says about Martin.

"Get him on the phone," he instructs an assistant.

Handed the phone, Graham says, "When that fax came in, we all lit up."

About 15 minutes later, the most anticipated letter of the day is about to come in. Several coaches, including Graham, are hovering around the machine, as Norvell is on the phone with Darryl Foster, D.J. Foster's dad.

The fight song strikes up.

"Just so you know, you've got an entire room of grown men staring at a fax machine right now," Norvell says looking at the heralded Scottsdale Saguaro High running back's paperwork come through. "I'm telling you, we're excited. ... It is rolling through right now."

Coaches are high-fiving, as Graham walks out saying, "That's a whole bunch of touchdowns right there, boys."

Graham hands the letter to Assistant Director of Football Operations John Wrenn with staff member and former ASU star Rudy Burgess in tow.

"Hey, Rudy, make sure you follow John down there, so he doesn't lose that," Graham says. "That's D.J. Foster's."

The fight song is playing over and over, louder and louder.

"I like that," Graham says. "Get the fight song going."

Graham is like a little kid on Christmas.

"Hey, did I tell you that D.J. Foster's letter came in?" he says to anyone in general.

Several coaches, including Graham, celebrate in one of the meeting rooms that has the ASU-UA game playing.

"He will come out of that tunnel Week One and be a rock star," Graham says of Foster, a PARADE All-American, who scored a state-record 60 touchdowns last season, when he was the state's Player of the Year. "You know what I'm saying? Season ticket sales will go out the door."

Graham and Norvell had to really sell Foster fast, after ASU fell apart down the stretch of last season and Dennis Erickson lost his job. Erickson and then offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone had developed a relationship with Foster over the year. And with those guys out, and ASU still searching for a coach, Foster no longer looked like a done deal.

Even though Foster announced he was going to ASU on Friday, Norvell wanted to make sure he didn't lose him.

Norvell is a relentless recruiter, texting every hour throughout the middle of the night.

"I would not sign because you're keeping me up all night," Graham jokes.

"You do that to me," Norvell says.

"I'm not trying to recruit you," Graham says. "I'm just trying to make you miserable."

Emotions turn in a heartbeat after ASU coaches see a report that a coveted out-of-state player's mom cried after she was told by her son where he was going to play college football.

That can't be a good sign, Graham feels.

Later in the day, emotions take a huge swing with two All-Arizona defenders expected to flip on their earlier commitments on Fox Sports Arizona's recruiting show.

Coaches watch the big screen as Hoffpauir sits at a table with ASU, California and Stanford hats sitting in front of him. ASU staffers hope it's a good sign that the ASU hat is in the middle.

Hoffpauir was so impressed by Graham in a short time he was close to going there and joining Foster, with whom he had gotten close during the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl as teammates. But in the end, Hoffpauir puts on the Stanford hat. The room gets quiet. A few minutes later Graham is on the phone with Hoffpauir, congratulating him and telling him if he ever got into coaching he would hire him.

"You can't win them all," he says.

He wins out on Hood, whose announcement on TV and fax creates another big buzz throughout the coaches' floor.

There is a lull in the afternoon, a good time for Penni Graham to pull her husband aside to close on a house.

Associate Athletic Director for Communications Mark Brand is ready to release the 23 names that comprise the 2012 signing class. Graham describes all the players in the class as "great character guys."

After a half-hour team meeting, Graham, at his desk, puts a quick call into junior college wide receiver Alonzo Agwuenu to make sure he gets the right pronunciation of his name before he talks about him during his media conference.